Austin Lucas shares video off 'Immortal Americans,' on tour with Face to Face
Bloomington, Indiana’s Austin Lucas has been writing country and folk songs with a punk spirit for over a decade now, and he remains right at home in both the country and punk worlds. He’s got a long-running creative relationship with Hot Water Music’s Chuck Ragan, who he released a split with in 2007, a collaborative project with in 2008, and toured with in 2009. He’s fresh off playing Nashville’s AmericanaFest and right after that, he hit the road opening punk vets Face to Face‘s acoustic tour (following Face to Face’s set at Riot Fest), and that tour is about to land at NYC’s City Winery on Wednesday (9/19) (tickets) and NJ’s Crossroads on Thursday (9/20) (tickets). All dates are listed below.
Austin is touring behind his great new album Immortal Americans (out now on Cornelius Chapel Records), which he co-produced with Will Johnson (Centro-matic), and which was engineered by Steve Albini. The album is as punk in spirit as Austin ever was, but musically it’s got a cleaned-up sound compared to his earlier work. If I had to compare it to another artist who worked with Steve Albini, sometimes it reminds me of Will Oldham’s ’90s material, especially on the dark album highlight “My Mother and the Devil,” which recently got a new animated video made by Jay Sek of Backyard Graphics. Here’s what Austin said about that one:
This is one of those songs that sprang fully formed out of a dream. An anxiety dream, but a dream nonetheless. I had fled Nashville after being shed from my label and having lost my entire team. I was so agitated and depressed about my career having seemingly evaporated that I could barely sleep and I was fighting some of my darkest urges while fighting to stay sober. In my dream, my mother appeared and said the first line in the chorus and it shook me to the core. I wrote it down the moment I awoke and the song took shape.
You can watch that video and stream the full album below.
Meanwhile, Austin Lucas doesn’t just have punk roots but also metal roots. Before launching his solo career, he spent time in death metal bands Rune and Twenty Third Chapter. He revisited those roots by talking about metal and hardcore for our metal sister site Invisible Oranges’ ‘Entry Level’ series, where “musicians re-examine the records that piqued their interests in heavy and loud music as children and young adults.” Austin discussed crust punk vets His Hero Is Gone (and some other stuff). You can read the full piece HERE.
Austin Lucas — 2018 Tour Dates
Sept 19 – New York, NY – City Winery*
Sept 20 – Garwood, NJ – Crossroads*
Sept 21 – Croydon, PA – Neshaminy Creek Brewing*
Sept 22 – St Augustine, FL Sing Out Loud Festival
Sept 23 – Boston, MA – City Winery*
Sept 25 – Virginia Beach, VA – Shakas*
Sept 26 – Washington, DC – City Winery*
Sept 27 – Richmond, VA – Broadberry*
Sept 28 – Atlanta, GA – City Winery*
Sept 29 – Cincinnati, OH – North Yacht Club*
Sept 30 – Nashville, TN – City Winery*
Oct 3 – Wichita, KS – Nortons Brewing Company
Oct 4 – Denver, CO – Hi-Dive
Oct 5 – Roswell, NM – Pecos Flavors Winery + Bistro
Oct 6 – Mesa, AZ – The Nile Coffee Shop
Oct 7 – Los Angeles, CA – The Echo
Oct 9 – San Francisco, CA – Bottom of the Hill
Oct 10 – Sacramento, CA – Torch Club
Oct 11 – Portland, OR – Dante’s
Oct 12 – Seattle, WA – Funhouse
Oct 13 – Boise, ID – Neurolux Lounge
Oct 14 – Salt Lake City – The State Room
Oct 15 – Fort Collins, CO – Surfside 7
* w/ Face To Face
